Written by: Khadija Craine
In 2018, there are tons of tools businesses can use to help prioritize their work and customers.
Creating and running a small business can be a daunting and tireless process. With these apps and tools, life can seem a little easier. Used successfully, you may even have a little more time for some much deserved self care! 😉
Fuze is a video conferencing app that hosts online meetings for all devices and systems. It features high definition video and sound, and the setup and download is a breeze. Fuze offers voice and video messaging and content all in one program. The easy to access interface allows users to go from a one person chat to a group chat. You can add favorites, start conversations with colleagues, and launch a video or voice chat all from one screen.
If you want to get “real followers, likes, and comments” without doing all the labor intensive legwork then Social Drift is an app to check out. Social Drift is an automated marketing app targeting business’ key audiences, creating an ability to increase clients, and possibly gain sponsorship. It’s known for automating business’ Instagram presence by targeting their users by usernames, hashtags, locations, engagement and other key demographics.
Social Drift provides marketing expertise in the convenience of an app. Their technology focuses on using Artificial Intelligence to interact with the ideal user in your target audience … on your behalf.
Some users has experienced over 600% of growth in followers since using the tool.
It’s easy to get off track or lose sight of due dates. For this reason, having a planning app that focuses on project management is very important. Between juggling projects, deadlines, documents and graphics, it is very easy for things to get lost in the shuffle of tabs and emails. Using the Trello app will allow entrepreneurs to keep track of all their tasks in one convenient place.
Trello is a project management tool that allows users to create boards that represent their assignment or tasks. It’s a collaborative tool that allows teams to merge and share information and jointly manage a project virtually. Once the assignment or task has been created, things like comments, attachments, due dates and checklists can be added.
MailChimp is an essential email marketing tool for small businesses. MailChimp simplifies the process of sending customers emails, updates, specials, and news all in one place, in one email. The email marketing tool allows users to create and build customized newsletters and provides performance analytics.
MailChimp can be compared to that of an assistant, as MailChimp marketing automation helps alleviates the stress of managing campaigns. It also promotes businesses and grows audiences through social media. One of the amazing perks of MailChimp is that businesses can send new contacts to landing pages or call to action pages, that begin the connection between the business and its future customer. When a customer has abandoned their cart or just purchased an item, it allows business to send follow up emails. MailChimp strives to save businesses time so it won’t be spent on marketing and sorting through emails.
Switching from Instagram to Twitter, to Facebook, posting photos, pasting copy, and engaging with followers can be overwhelming, time consuming and down right draining. If you’re new to digital marketing, and don’t have a strong understanding of social media analytics and campaign success Hootsuite will make all of that easier.
HootSuite is used by more than 800 business and counting. HootSuite allows users to schedule content, provide reports, and separate the return on investments for own and paid advertisements.
Hootsuite makes creating social content a breeze. In its interface, it provides a space to discover new content based on popular hashtags, locations or general keywords so it can be reposted or used to curate new engaging content. It also provides an overview of key metrics, like tracking and measuring growth, reaches, and content performance. Hootsuite is good for posting quick updates to multiple accounts across your social channels and websites. All in all, it’s a huge time saver.
Hootsuite also can be easily accessed through mobile platforms. Placing all social platforms in the palm of hands.
Later.com is an automated marketing platform for Instagram. It allows users to visually plan and schedule Instagram posts. Latter is ideal for entrepreneurs and small businesses because it allows content from more simply structured content calendars to be uploaded in advance. The Later interface offers an organized space for content such as photos and videos to be uploaded and tagged with reference labels. Groups are also able to collaborate on different project and campaigns.
For those that are the perfectionist, Later lets users preview posts using their visual Instagram planner. This feature shows what the Instagram feed would look like before the content is published, making sure that there is aesthetic and the campaign will flow smoothly. The best thing about Later is it can be easily accessed on desktop or mobile.
Canva is a leading resource to create graphic designs for small businesses and entrepreneurs. There are thousands of users and companies using Canva in their workplace. Canva provides stock images, vectors, illustrations, and already made templates that use a drag-and-drop feature to create incredible graphics.
Canva also provides hundreds of fonts, icons, shapes, and elements to enhance the look and feel for graphics. There are several designs and templates to choose from for all uses – Facebooks Ads, Album Covers, Menus, Posters, Flyers, etc. Canva is also available as a mobile app for easy to create, on the go designs.
Spark Post is a lot like Canva, but goes into further design elements like web pages and videos. Spark Post provides images, fonts, and icons for their users. Spark Post also has a feature blog that offers tips and tactics, to stand out on social media and create inspiring stories and campaigns. The advice is provided by experts on how often to post to social platforms, what time to post, design tips, and visual brand ideas.
Adobe Premiere Clip is a major tool for businesses that would like to create amazing videos but have no idea how to work editing platforms. Adobe Premiere Clips takes clips shot with an iOS or Android device and turns them into videos with an amazing look and sound. Adobe Premiere Clip uses a drag and drop feature to drop clips where they need to be placed, trim them down, and offers the ability to add music soundtracks. Can you believe, this can all be done in one app AND it’s FREE?! With an upgrade to their Premiere Pro account, there are more features that allow users to edit and tweak to achieve video clips that look like they were created by industry video experts.
Fiverr is a website and app turned marketplace built for entrepreneurs to freely advertise their services. The marketplace provides graphic designers, digital marketing experts, writers, videographers, musicians, tech specialists all at the touch of a button. Visitors can roam through tons of pages to find the expert that best fit their needs.
The Fiverr site is important for the entrepreneur or small business owner that may be lacking in certain areas and actively seeking industry expertise. When assessing weaknesses, outsourcing someone from Fiverr is a great solution. The great thing about this site – the services fit any budget or timeline.
Our hope is that you’ll test out all these tools and figure out which works best for you! Goodluck!
Comment below and let us know which ones you prefer.
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